1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to head gear and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for earmuffs.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Adults who are exposed to dangerous levels of noise may wear hearing protection. Shooters, factory workers who operate noisy machinery, industrial workers who work in noisy environments, and so forth may wear hearing protection. The two most common types of protection are the moldable, memory-foam, plugs that can be molded to a comparatively small diameter for insertion into the outer ear canal, and which then over a matter of seconds or minutes will expand to a larger diameter in order to occlude sound waves entering the outer ear canal of a wearer.
Shooters earmuffs' resemble private stereo headphones, being manufactured with a large, hard, plastic or other composite material cavity that surrounds the ear. The two, hemispherical, hard shells corresponding to the two ears of a user are often made of a plastic such a styrene or a styrene mixture, other structural materials, fiber-reinforced plastic, or the like. Each hemispherical shell is sufficiently large to fit around the respective ear of a user, receive the ear therein. Typically, a resilient liner is secured along the circumference of each shell in order to deform and deflect at the surface of the head of a user, in order to fit against the head of a user surrounding the ear.
Necessarily, such systems require substantial force to be applied to the shells by a spring formed in an arc passing from one shell up over the crown of the head and down to the other shell. The force is sufficient that some alignment is often required, giving rise to a pivot system by which each shell may pivot in at least one dimension, about at least one axis with respect to the powerful spring.
Infants are less likely to be in environments requiring hearing protection. Nevertheless, to avoid startling an infant, waking an infant, protect infant ears, or otherwise to provide attenuations of sound, conventional sound-attenuating earmuffs simply do not serve. Notwithstanding the inappropriate size, such a technique of using a spring force, typically applied by a steel spring, to apply a pressure force against the head of a wearer would be not only uncomfortable but dangerous to an infant. An infant can neither complain, identify the source of discomfort, nor participate in adjusting or finding another solution to the problem.
Nevertheless, parents often desire to reduce noise to which children are exposed, particularly during sleep, when walking in a stroller along streets bearing substantial traffic, and so forth. What is needed is a sound-attenuation system more in keeping with the physical realities of infant physiology, sound deadening technology, ease of use, comfort, and so forth.